The cry of indignation, that had already broken out when the Crusaders turned aside to besiege Zara, was renewed on their abandoning their campaign against the infidel to conquer a Christian city. But the feebleness of the opposition showed that the crusading spirit was dying, and even Innocent III., who was bitterly grieved at the failure of the Crusade, found consolation in the hoped-for collapse of the Greek schism, and made his peace with the Latin conquerors of Constantinople. [Sidenote: The partition and organisation of the Latin Empire, 1204–1261.] The victorious Westerns now proceeded to the division of the spoil. The Venetians and the Franks still stood apart, jealously watching over their respective interests. There was no longer any talk of appointing a new Greek Emperor. It was agreed to elect from the crusading host a Latin Emperor and Patriarch, and it was further determined that the party that furnished the Emperor should yield to the other the choice of the Patriarch. A college of six French prelates and six Venetian nobles was set up to elect the Emperor. There was keen rivalry for the post. Boniface of Montferrat, as general, seemed to have an obvious claim, but the Venetians were unwilling to support the candidature of an Italian prince, an ally of the Hohenstaufen. Refusing the dangerous honour for their own duke, the Venetians declared for Count Baldwin of Flanders, who was duly elected Emperor in May. The papal legate crowned him in St. Sophia’s, and he was invested with the purple buskins and all the other trappings of the Basileus of the Romans. Thomas Morosini, a Venetian, was chosen Patriarch. But the election of the heads of the Church and State was an easier business than the division of the spoils amidst a whole swarm of greedy claimants.